‘Automaker downsizing and the credit market crisis have created significant stress for [auto] suppliers and their pensions,’ including in 2009 ‘a rise in the number of supplier bankruptcies, liquidations and pension plan terminations,’ the report states.

Without the extension, employees who are involuntarily terminated after March 31 will not be eligible for the 65 percent, 15-month premium subsidy. The House-approved bill, introduced by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Michigan, would extend the subsidy eligibility through April 30.